The prophetic events found in The Book of Daniel and in The Revelation of John are of great interest to students of scripture, and every Christian denomination has placed their own interpretations upon them. Many have been rather sound in their explanation, while still leaving room for uncertainty. This work does not represent the views of any particular religion, and the facts may be far different than commonly considered.

Friday, August 12, 2011

Part 13:

Allah, Islam, Qur’an and 666

In the previous part of our study we read Revelation 13:18 concerning the number of the beast: “Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.”

There have been various interpretations of what the mark of the beast—the 666—is all about: it’s the Social Security Number, the microchip, a tattoo, it’s Gorbachev!, etc, but how many have thought of it as being the Islamic religion; their god, Allah; or the Qur’an? As different as this idea might be for some people, let’s still entertain it for a moment.

The letters in many alphabets, such as Hebrew, Greek, and a few others, have numerical value. Gematria is a numerical coding system by which the letters of a particular alphabet are assigned numerical values. Gematria, the calculating of numerical values from names, is sometimes used in witchcraft.

When they translated the Bible, the translators thought the symbols were Greek, so they rendered them as 666 because they thought it was about gematria. But they weren’t Greek letter symbols, they were a different script than the Greek; What John saw were Arabic symbols that he wrote down, but later were interpreted to be Greek letters.

CHI, XI, STIGMA, AND 666The first Greek letter, χ (“chi”), looks like two crossed swords, and resembles the symbol of Islamic conquest. The Greek “chi” has a numerical value of 600.

The second Greek letter, ξ (“xi” or “ksi”), is written vertically, but it is the exact name of Allah when written horizontally in Arabic. The Greek “xi” has a numerical value of 60.

The third Greek Letter, ζ (“stigma” or “sigma”), resembles the words, “in the name of,” in Arabic. The Greek “stigma” has a numerical value of 6, and it also has literal meaning of “scar,”“mark,” or “badge of service.”

χ ξ ζ then, has a numerical value of 600 + 60 + 6 = 666.

There are 6,666 verses in the Qur’an. There is at least one sect of Islam, the Submission sect (Bahattin Uzunkaya), that considers the number 666 to demonstrate the perfection of the Qur’an and the proof that Muhammad is the prophet of Allah.

BISMILLAHIllustration (A), below, is a stylized word (above)for Allah in Arabic. To its right (B) is the same thing but turned diagonally on its side. Notice how similar the one turned diagonally resembles the Greek letter, ξ “xi” as shown above. Illustration (C) shows the three Greek letters together, and (D) illustrates the Arabic words that say “In the name of Allah.” It is easy to see how a translation error could occur when the one doing the translation is thinking that John was writing in Greek instead of writing down the symbols he was seeing in vision.

The Islamic mark also tells us that the heavenly vision that John was perhaps trying to capture and record was the middle symbol, known in Arabic as “Bismillah.” This symbol is a word which spells “Bismillah,” and it literally means “In the name of Allah,” as shown in illustration (A). In her work, The Real Mark of the Beast, by Kimberly Rogers, she says:

“I spent a lot of time investigating the Mark of the Beast prior to making the all-important realization that will be revealed here. Like most other Believers, I looked at tattoos, RFID chips and Nanotechnology. It seemed so obvious that any of these could fulfill the prophecies as marks that go in the forehead and the hands. This is the first criteria Believers look for when searching for the Mark of the Beast. We are correct in doing this.

“Do you remember the Mark of Cain? I used to ask every preacher I ran into about the nature of it. I wanted to know what it looked like. None could answer me. It wasn’t until I began studying the Bible from a Jewish and Jerusalem-centric viewpoint that I learned something critical about the Mark of Cain. Rabbinical literature teaches that it was the Hebrew letter ‘Tav’.

“The ‘Tav’ looks this: +. The Jews referred to it as the sign during the time before Yeshua was born. Those with ears to hear and eyes to see were able to discern that He was the Messiah because they were looking for the + —‘the sign’. That is one of the reasons so many Jews converted to the Jewish Sect called ‘The Way’ that is so called in the Book of Acts.

“The + is the symbol for sin. We see it in the beginning and the middle of Jerusalem-centric history, and now we will see that same Mark in the end. The sign + is what that the Rabbis believe marked Cain. It was the sign of his sin. It is also accepted in Christianity as the symbol for the cross where the Messiah took the sin of the world and died. Of course, the crucifixion cross and the cross that marked Cain would be the same (duh!)—they are both symbols of sin. One is a man marked with sin and the other is the Son of God removing sin. The cross stands for both. It is the visible symbol of the entry of sin into the world and the symbol of its removal. So, if the end of the world is like the beginning, we can expect to see this mark again and we do!

“John was told to write what he saw. I believe he did just that. I believe he wrote exactly what he ‘saw’. It is as literal, simple and direct as that. He said people would wear a ‘666' on their foreheads and right arms. But, what exactly, did John see? Did he see ‘666' as we do today? No. We use Arabic numerals. In the Greek text, ‘666' is represented by Greek letters that also have numerical values, specifically: Chi Xi Stigma, or ‘Six-hundred, three-score and six’.

“So what John saw was something that looked like ‘Chi Xi Stigma’ being worn on the foreheads and right arms of the multitude who belong to the Beast. What does ‘666' mean? Is it something we can look at today and say, ‘There it is!’. Is it something we can see? And the answer is, ‘yes you can’.” (End of Kimberly Rogers quote.)

CROSSED SWORDS(Above right) can be seen a vertical symbol with the hook at the top, which is placed to the right of the Bismillah; this is representative of a sword. The two crossed swords is the symbol of Islamic conquest. (Below right) is a cover of a book displaying the crossed swords. As you can see, the title of the book is Crossed Swords (the book is an historical analysis of the nature of the Pakistan army in their turbulent relationship with the United States).

If we add crossed swords to the left of the middle character (‘xi”), and remember that the stigma (ξ) to the right has the meaning of “mark” or “badge,” then we get crossed swords, the name of Allah, and the word “mark” (χξζ). It’s not difficult to see the similarities between these crossed swords, the name of Allah (flipped) and the sigma, as compared with the original Greek manuscript, the Codex Vaticanus.

(At left) we see the Hamas symbol of war, the crossed swords. Two Palestinian flags form a circular frame around the Al Aksa Mosque in the center. On the flags, in Arabic, is the Islamic declaration of faith: the right flag translates as “There is no God but God” and the left translates as “Muhammad is His prophet.” Beneath the crossed swords is the word “Palestine.” The full name of the group appears on the white banner at the bottom. At the top, center, there is a map of Israel and the territories in white. The image evokes Hamas’s nationalist and religious aims, as do the Palestinian flags imprinted with Islam’s declaration of faith. The crossed swords evoke jihad (holy war) and represent Hamas’s dedication to violent struggle. (The Bismillah can be clearly seen. 3rd word from the right).

RIGHT HAND OR FOREHEADAccording to Revelation 13:16, the mark of the beast is supposed to be worn on the “right hand, or in their foreheads.” Islamic Jihadists typically wear this Bismillah on the forehead and on the right arm.

The mark is a badge of servitude to Allah, and literally made out of cloth or paper that is placed around the forehead, or placed as an armband. The mark, or badge, could contain the crescent moon; the words, “There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger”; the crossed swords; the mark itself, the Bismillah; or whatever it takes to show allegiance to the antichrist. You can see one of the headband styles in this picture (above).

TESTIMONY OF A TERRORISTWalid Shoebat, a former PLO terrorist now Christian evangelist, said that when he saw the Greek symbol that is translated in the Bible as 666, he immediately read it as the Arabic character “Bismillah” (Bismilla) which means “in the name of Allah,” although it looks more like the character for “Allah.” At the following link can see and hear Walid on a seven minute YouTube video talking about the 666:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtquNNEO7Fw

If Shoebat’s account seems to stretch things a bit, even though Arabic was his first language and Islam the religion he was born into, consider how this Arabic character is stylized into many different artistic forms. Consider also how some look for this character in trees, clouds and virtually everywhere—even in a fish!

This 666 connection is, however, just one incidental component of Bible prophecy pointing to the Middle Eastern Islamic empire as being, geographically, the leopard-bear-lion beast of Revelation 13. The seat of Islam today occupies the same geographical region as Daniel’s successive lion, bear, and leopard kingdom “beasts,” as shown on the map found in Part 20 of this study.

ON RECEIVING THE MARKThere are some serious consequences for those who consciously voluntarily take the mark. In Revelation we read:

Revelation 14:9-11: “And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.”

Revelation 16:2: “And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image."

Zechariah 14:12: “And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.”

Revelation 19:20: “And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.”

There are grave consequences for those who take the mark, so the mark won’t be some everyday thing such as one’s Social Security Number that most everyone in this country is forced to have, or a microchip that might be implanted by some medical do-gooder. Would such people go to hell for it? I don’t think so. As stated earlier, God is a just God, and to condemn those who take the mark, those people will have to make a “conscious choice” as to whom they will serve— either the Lord Jesus Christ, or some other god, such as Allah. It is as simple as that.

Many today are saying, How can we win a war with these terrorists? I wonder, Have some of these people lost faith in the providence of God? Could this attitude reflect the prophecy in Revelation 13:4 that says, “Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?” Will such people make a conscious decision to take the “mark” of Allah to keep their own heads? We’ll see!

There is a positive side to the mark of Revelation 13:

Revelation 15:2: “And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.”

Revelation 20:4: “And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.”

The beast appears to be Islam. The beast’s prophet (the false prophet) is Muhammad, and the mark of the beast is that infernal Arabic writing across their jihad heads and arm bands, which mark is the “Bismillah,” the name of Allah in Arabic.

Revelation 13:18: “Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast [Islamic Empire]: for it is the number [multitude] of a man [the prophet Muhammad]; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six [“Bismillah”—Allah].